On Wednesday, July 11th, 2012 CopBlock.org founder and my good friend Ademo Freeman was put in handcuffs and taken to a cage. In this video I give an overview of the situation.
It’s said that when legislation conflicts with law a good man will side with the latter. That’s what Ademo did. He acted to point-out double-standards.
Some say if you don’t agree with legislation to change it through the courts. Ademo tried. But he wasn’t even given his day in court to argue to merits. Instead, a bureaucratic error conveniently meant that he wasn’t informed of his appeal date.
Below are related posts, a video playlist that begins with the video Ademo made live two days ago, on Monday, July 7th, 2012, about his situation, and WePay donation buttons (25% of which will go to Ademo’s commissary and will be used by him after he’s free(r) and 75% of which will go to advance CopBlock.org’s mission). (more…)
At best, it was a clerical error that sent Ademo Freeman’s notice of jury selection from Manchester superior court to 47 Schultz Street, an address that does not exist in Keene. At worst, it was a deliberate attempt to deny his right to a jury trial in the Chalking 8 case. Though the post office informed the court that the notification was not delivered, no further attempt was made to contact Ademo about the hearing that he had requested. As a result, on Wednesday, Judge Lyons ordered him caged for 60 days without consideration of the court’s error. He passed the buck to the supreme court, advising that the only challenge to the imposition of the sentence could be made through the third, and highest layer of NH judiciary.
Unless the supreme court intervenes, Ademo will serve sixty days, possibly forty if afforded all of his good time. Video of the scene in the courtroom is embedded below.
If you’ve been reading the blog in the last few months, you may have seen Ademo’s piece/video where he updates us on the situation surrounding his chalking arrest from Manchester last year. In short, the “superior” court there sent a hearing notice to the wrong address – an address that doesn’t even exist, and so Ademo was unaware of his pending court date, and therefore missed it. Ademo has never missed a court date. He would not have missed this one – especially since he’d REQUESTED it! He was trying to get a “de novo” (from the beginning) trial in front of a jury since a robed man had convicted him in a bench trial. He figured he’d have a chance to convince a jury of his innocence.
Well, not only did the court send the hearing notice to the wrong place, but Ademo could prove it and he filed motions in both district and “superior” courts to correct their error and re-set the trial date. The motions were denied.
So, to recap, all the courts need to do to screw you out of a jury trial is send a notice to the wrong address! Apparently their mistake counts against YOU. (more…)
This Wednesday at 1pm I’ll walk into district court in Manchester, New Hampshire so a judge can decide when I’ll go to jail. Why? Well the start of all this was June 4th, 2011 when I used children’s chalk on a police station. Since then I have been found guilty at a trial by judge. Wanting to speak to a jury, I appealed.
Subject: Write to me in Jail
Did you know you can write to me in jail without ever having to leave your computer? Mail-to-Jail.com is a website where you can write letters to jailed activists such as drug war victim Beau Davis and me by simply typing a message and hitting send. It is run by activist Jay Denonville and support by donations to cover the costs of paper, stamps, and envelopes.
I am dedicated to responded to each letter I receive and nothing is more uplifting than to read a letter from a supportive stranger. Writing also helps pass the time and helps me feel more connected with the outside world more than anything else.
Write to me today! I’m looking forward to hearing from you. In Liberty, Derrick J. =D
At best, it was a 
Radio Free Keene News is a five minute newscast which is available as 
